IRFCA Mailing List Archive
Messages 1081 - 1100
From: Jishnu Mukerji <jis@usl.email
Subject: Re: Superfast trains.
Date: 10 Dec 1993 16:20:00 -0500
Excerpts from personal.IRFCA: 7-Dec-93 Superfast trains. from Vijay. (3713*)
> 1. The new biweekly Howrah - N.Delhi Rajdhani Exp. via Patna takes 2 -
> 2.5 hrs. more than the one via Gaya. Both have the same schedule
> between N.Delhi and Mughal Sarai. Ajai had mentioned that the former
> has two halts between Mughal Sarai and Howrah, namely, Patna and Jha
> Jha, although the time-table confirms only the Patna halt.
Jhajha is sort of like the old Gomoh/Dhanbad halt in the original
Rajdhani. It is a crew change point.
Jishnu.
From: Pushkar Apte <apte@spdc.email
Subject: Superfast Trains
Date: 13 Dec 1993 12:24:00 -0500
Re: Vijay's message containing much painstaking work about superfast
speeds - a minor clarification. He refers to some train as Pushkar
Express. I think he means "Pushpak Express" since to the best of my
knowledge, IR has not taken my passion seriously enough to name a
train after me to date. :-)
BTW I agree with him that N. Delhi tends to get the plum more often
than not. Not to be parochial, but resource distribution in India is
patently unfair. I remember that Rajiv once promised Rs 100 crore to
Bombay, but the money, piddling as it was, was never delivered.
Switching back to the railway track, I think the single line stretch
between Bombay-Madras is a disgrace. That effectively cuts off the
possibility of any train travelling greater than 50-55 kmph average
between Bombay and ANY southern destination.
Regards,
Pushkar
-------
From: S Pai <Pai>>
Subject: Bangalore area railway zone?
Date: 17 Jan 1994 11:40:00 -0500
I got this from the INDIA-L list. Does anyone have any more details about
this -- what areas will the proposed new zone cover, and what will it imply
as far as train service or future rail expansion in the area is concerned?
-Satish
------------------------------------------------------------
RAILWAY ZONE FOR B'LORE CLEARED
BANGALORE - A long pending demand of Karnataka has been met with the Railway
Ministry finally agreeing to the State Govt's proposal to set up a separate
railway zone for Bangalore.
From: Gao <gvr@netcom.email
Subject:
Date: 17 Feb 1994 04:33:00 -0500
Comment: Subject mapped from all upper case
From: clarinews@clarinet.email (Reuters)
Subject: At Least Six Killed in Indian Train Crash
Message-Id: <Rindia-trainUR972_4FH@clarinet.email
Date: Wed, 16 Feb 94 22:10:02 PST
NEW DELHI, India (Reuter) - An express train plowed into a
freight train in central India, killing at least six people and
injuring 26, domestic news agencies said Thursday.
The Bombay-bound express rammed the stopped freight train
Wednesday evening at Bangrod station near Ratlam in Madhya
Pradesh state, about 400 miles southwest of New Delhi.
Four passenger coaches and six freight cars were derailed,
the agencies said.
From: Janardan Ramesh <jjr@alantec.email
Subject: Need info
Date: 17 Feb 1994 07:48:00 -0500
Hi,
A friend of mine is travelling to India next month. He was looking for
some info for travelling from Jaipur to Udaipur. I know that there were
two trains earlier (Pink City/Garib Nawaz Express and Chetak Express).
Will all the gauge conversions in progress, I am not sure about the current
situation. I would really appreciate any updated information.
Thanks in advance
Ramesh
From: S Pai <Pai>>
Subject: Railway Budget '94
Date: 25 Feb 1994 12:17:00 -0500
I got this from the India-L mailing list. If anyone has more complete details
please do post them.
-Satish
------------------------------------------------------------
** AC, I CLASS TRAVEL COSTLIER BY 6%
** FARES, FREIGHT RATE HIKE TO NET RS 997 CR, 12 NEW TRAINS PLANNED
New Delhi - Sparing the common man from any drastic hike in second class fares,
Railway Minsiter C.K. Jaffer Sharief today announced marginal increases in
passenger fares and a 5.4% hike in freight rates to yield an additional Rs 997
crore to cover the shortfall during the coming financial year through the
measures proposed in the 1994-95 Railway Budget.
Highlights
----------
The following are the highlights of the 1994-95 Railway Budget:
* 6% hike proposed in fares for AC first class, first class, AC sleeper
and AC chair car.
* Fares for AC three-tier to be 25% higher than AC chair fares as at present.
* Sleeper class fares to be 25% higher than 2nd class fares as at present.
* Second class ordinary fares up to 100 km to remain unchanged. Marginal
increases ranging from Re 1 at 101 km to Rs 5 at 601 km and beyond proposed.
* Marginal reduction in second class mail/express fares for distances from
51 km to 65 km, 101 km to 110 km, 116 km to 125 km, and 151 km to 155 km,
and modest increases ranging from Re 1 to Rs 20 for other distances proposed.
* Fares for Rajdhani, August Kranti Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express trains
proposed to be suitably revised.
* Fares for second class monthly season tickets up to 90 km distance proposed
to be increased by Re 1 to Rs 9. Increases to range from Rs 11 to Rs 40 for
distances beyond 90 km.
* Quarterly season tickets to be charged at 2.5 times the monthly season
tickets fares as at present.
* Charge now levied for computerised reservations to be levied for normal
reservations also.
* Target of gauge conversion of 1200 km exceeded by 151 km last year and
current target of 1600 km also likely to be exceeded.
* Electrification of 500 route-km to be completed in current year.
From: Pushkar Apte <apte@spdc.email
Subject: Locomotion on A&E
Date: 07 Mar 1994 12:11:00 -0500
On A&E (cable channel), a 4-part series titled "Locomotion" started
yesterday (Sun 3/6/94). It is not exactly a train-lover's dream, but
it does contain interesting snippets about the financial and
engineering aspects of railways. The first 2 parts were mainly on the
U.S. and U.K.. In watching such films, I am always depressed by the
fact that these countries had train speeds > 100 miles an hour way
back the 1930s and 40s, while we cannot do better than 90-95 miles an
hour even today - 60 years later - in India. Today and tomorrow (3/7
and 3/8) are the concluding parts of the series, when they will cover
other parts of the world, bullet trains and TGV (I hope).
On another note, does anyone have info about the 12 new trains to be
started in this years budget? If so, please post.
Regards,
Pushkar
-------
From: Jishnu Mukerji <jis@summit.email
Subject: A few new trains (was Re: Locomotion on A&E)
Date: 24 Mar 1994 10:17:00 -0500
Excerpts from personal.IRFCA: 7-Mar-94 Locomotion on A&E Pushkar
Apte@spdc.email (826*)
> On another note, does anyone have info about the 12 new trains to be
> started in this years budget? If so, please post.
I know about 3 of the 12. The ones that I know about are:
New Delhi - Puri weekly Rajdhani Express
New Delhi - Guwahati weekly Rajdhani Express
Howrah - Jaipur Express
Jishnu Mukerji
jis@summit.email
+1 908 522 5024
From: Jishnu Mukerji <jis@summit.email
Subject: Jammu Tawi - Srinagar rail link.
Date: 24 Mar 1994 10:21:00 -0500
Money has been allocated in this year's budget to start work on the
Jammu Tawi - Srinagar rail link beyond Udhampur. The line to Udhampur
will be ready by 1996. The line from Udhampur to Srinagar will be an
engineering marvel when completed. Preliminary survey has been done and
the alignment has 103 tunnels, the longest of which will be just under
15km long. This was disclosed by Mr. Lenka in a news conference
following the presentation of the Railway Budget.
Jishnu Mukerji,
Rm SF A-121, Novell, Inc.
190 River Road, Summit NJ 07901, USA.
Tel: +1 908 522 5024, Email: jis@summit.email
From: Jishnu Mukerji <jis@summit.email
Subject: AC 3-Tier Sleeper, Rajdhani Express trip etc.
Date: 24 Mar 1994 10:45:00 -0500
I had a chance to take peek inside an AC 3-Tier Sleeper at Howrah
Station the other day. These coaches have been introduced on a few
trains. Eventually they will replace all AC Chair Cars in overnight
trains. The rake of the Howrah - New Delhi Rajdhani Express via Main
Line has a AC 3-Tier sleeper in it and this is the one that I saw. My
impression is that the interior feels rather gloomy and cramped. Things
could be improved considerably if those double tinted glasses in the
windows could be replaced by something that lets a little more light in,
and the internal lighting is brightened up considerably (like doubled in
brightness).
My travels from Howrah to New Delhi and back was by AC 2-Tier Sleeper on
the Rajdhani via Grand Chord. This train now stops at Gaya (3 min) and
Allahabad (3 min) in addition to its other stops but its running time is
15 minutes less than before! The 19 car train is powered by a single
WAP-1 class electric from the Ghaziabad Electric Loco Shed. The
formation of the rake was as follows:
Howrah End (i.e. direction of travel when travelling to Howrah)
Brake/Generator/Luggage
H1 AC I
H2 AC I
PC1 AC Pantry Car
C1 AC Chair Car
C2 AC Chair Car
C3 AC Chair Car
C4 AC Chair Car
C5 AC Chair Car
A1 AC 2-Tier Sleeper
A2 AC 2-Tier Sleeper
A3 AC 2-Tier Sleeper
A4 AC 2-Tier Sleeper
A5 AC 2-Tier Sleeper
A6 AC 2-Tier Sleeper
C6 AC Chair Car
C7 AC Chair Car
PC2 AC Pantry Car
Brake/Generator/Luggage
New Delhi End
The train was better maintained than it was last year and the food was
considerably better. It ran on time in both directions (at all stops
where I was awake). On the way back it actually got into Howrah 10
minutes before time. On the way to New Delhi it got to Shivaji Bridge
(used to be Minto Bridge) just outside New Delhi station 20 minutes
before time and then sat there to kill time and barely made it in time
into New Delhi. Shivaji Bridge seems to continue to be the bane of all
trains arriving into New Delhi. They always seem to get stuck at Shivaji
Bridge for a while for no apparent reason.
Interestingly the Howrah Rajdhani operates out of Platform 9 at both
Howrah and New Delhi!
BTW they have finally put the Howrah AC Express out of its misery by
withdrawing all AC service except 2 AC 2-Tier Sleepers from it and
renaming it Poorva Express. Its (intended) color scheme appears to be
standard maroon with green stripe above and below the window. This
appears to be the (inteded) color scheme of Paschim Express too. I say
intended because invariably there are coaches of other colors mixed into
the rake. Specifically the AC 2-Tier Sleepers seem always to be of a
different color. The Poorva Express is also pulled by a WAP-1 now.
More later.
Jishnu Mukerji,
Rm SF A-121, Novell, Inc.
190 River Road, Summit NJ 07901, USA.
Tel: +1 908 522 5024, Email: jis@summit.email
From: Pushkar Apte <apte@spdc.email
Subject: New Trains
Date: 24 Mar 1994 11:46:00 -0500
Jishnu, thanks for sharing the information on the new trains and the
3-tier sleeper. New Delhi-Puri and New Delhi-Guwahati EACH now have
three trains plus a Rajdhani. Hmmmmm... Compare that with one train
+ one Raj only between N. Delhi-Bangalore, or two trains only between
Bombay-Bangalore and Bombay-Secunderabad and so on. Is the traffic
from New Delhi to Puri/Guwahati really that huge?
Including these latest two, 3 Shatabdis and 8 Rajdhanis now
orginate/terminate at N. Delhi. But ZERO Rajdhani/Shatabdi-class
trains exist between any two cities outside New Delhi. Are there no
consumer groups that say anything about this? Not to grudge the
introduction of new fast trains, but the might of political power in
India is scary.
Re: 3-tier sleeper - I am not surprised that they are gloomy inside.
The one experience I had with an AC 2 Tier left me with a bad
impression about air and light circulation efficiency. It can only
get worse in 3-Tier. Does anyone else have similar feelings about
air/light circulation in AC sleeper cars? Maybe they will come up
with smarter engineering to solve this.
Regards,
Pushkar
-------
From: S Pai <Pai>>
Subject: Blue lights
Date: 24 Mar 1994 16:18:00 -0500
Speaking of light in trains, does anyone know what the deal is behind those
blue lights present in sleeper coaches? I understand they're sort of like
night-lights that stay on even when the compartment lights are switched off,
but why are they blue??
I may be wrong in this but I believe they were more prevalent many years ago --
are they being replaced with ordinary (white) lamp fixtures, perhaps?
-Satish
------------------------------------------------------------
Reminder: Please send mail to me or owner-irfca@cs.email
for address changes. Every now and then an address becomes
invalid and mail bounces back and I presume some member has
moved and forgotten to inform me of the new address.
From: Jishnu Mukerji <jis@summit.email
Subject: Re: New Trains etc.
Date: 25 Mar 1994 14:31:00 -0500
Excerpts from personal.IRFCA: 24-Mar-94 New Trains Pushkar
Apte@spdc.email (1148*)
> New Delhi-Puri and New Delhi-Guwahati EACH now have
> three trains plus a Rajdhani. Hmmmmm... Compare that with one train
> + one Raj only between N. Delhi-Bangalore, or two trains only between
> Bombay-Bangalore and Bombay-Secunderabad and so on. Is the traffic
> from New Delhi to Puri/Guwahati really that huge?
The Puri one is entirely a Lenka pork-barrel project. I am not sure that
there is enough Rajdhani type traffic between New Delhi and Guwahati
either, but who knows perhaps the folks in the North East need to be
placated with a Rajdhani to feel that they are an integral part of
India.:-)
New trains always provide and opportunity for speculating what route
they will take and at what time they will run, so here goes. It appears
that the Puri Rajdhani will follow the route of the Howrah Rajdhani via
Grand Chord upto Gomoh and then go off to Adra, Tatanagar, Kharagpur and
onto Puri. A quick back of the envelope calculation shows that its
running time should be of the order of 28 hours (~13 hours New Delhi -
Gomoh and ~15 hours Gomoh - Puri). Of course the other alternative is to
simply run it via Howrah, which also gives it about the same running
time! I suspect they will have to juggle a few things at the Delhi end
for all this to work. Probably the Puri Rajdhani will precede the Howrah
Rajdhani by ~1.5hours i.e. a New Delhi departure of ~16:00 or so with a
Puri arrival of ~20:00. That way it will start ahead of the Poorva
Express and thus won't need to overtake it, and yet be slotted neatly
with the existing Rajdhani. The Howrah Rajdhani which departs NDLS at
17:15 has to overtake the Poorva express between NDLS and CNB. In the UP
direction the Puri Rajdhani will probably follow the Howrah Rajdhani ~1
hour behind arriving NDLS ~10:50 giving it a Puri departure of ~7:00. Of
course the real train might do something entirely different.
I haven't had an opportunity to study the Guwahati situation closely
yet, but I suspect that it will use the same timetable slot as the Puri
Rajdhani between New Delhi and Mughal Sarai.
More later.
Jishnu Mukerji
jis@summit.email
+1 908 522 5024
From: Akhtar Jameel <jameel@cs.email
Subject:
Date: 30 Mar 1994 16:36:00 -0500
Jishnu writes:
> I know about 3 of the 12. The ones that I know about are:
> New Delhi - Puri weekly Rajdhani Express
> New Delhi - Guwahati weekly Rajdhani Express
One of the railway magazines did mention about the introduction of
more Rajdhanis from Delhi. Looks like the authorities have decided to
connect Delhi by Rajdhanis to several cities in India (especially if an
obnoxious, persuasive politican happens to be have strong ties with
that city). Utterly disgusting! I just cannot believe there is enough
traffic between Delhi and Puri/Guwahati to justify a Rajdhani-type
service.
The article also mentioned that IR authorities had (hazy) plans to introduce
Shatabdi-type services on other sectors such as Bombay - Ahmedabad,
Howrah - Tatanagar, Secunderabad - Vijayawada, etc. Looks too good to
be true!!
> they will take and at what time they will run, so here goes. It appears
> that the Puri Rajdhani will follow the route of the Howrah Rajdhani via
> Grand Chord upto Gomoh and then go off to Adra, Tatanagar, Kharagpur and
> onto Puri. A quick back of the envelope calculation shows that its
The two possibilities are Gomoh - Muri - Tatanagar - Kharagpur - Puri,
(followed by the Neelanchal Exp.) and Gomoh - Adra - Bankura - Kharagpur
- Puri (followed by the Delhi - Puri and Pushottam Exps.). The former
is about 70-100 km. longer but includes the important city of
Tatanagar. Once these routes get electrified (i.e. upto Kharagpur) the
Puri Rajdhani could be hauled by a WAP-1 till Kharagpur.
> I haven't had an opportunity to study the Guwahati situation closely
> yet, but I suspect that it will use the same timetable slot as the Puri
> Rajdhani between New Delhi and Mughal Sarai.
Numerous possibilities exist:
1. Delhi - Kanpur - Mughal Sarai - Patna - Barauni - Katihar - New
Jalpaiguri - Guwahati
2. Delhi - Kanpur - Lucknow - Gorakhpur - Muzaffarpur - Barauni -
Katihar - N. Jalpaiguri - Guwahati
3. Delhi - Kanpur - Mughal Sarai - Patna - Bhagalpur - Malda Town -
N. Jalpaiguri - Guwahati
4. Delhi - Kanpur - Mughal Sarai - Gaya - Bhagalpur - Malda Town -
N. Jalpaiguri - Guwahati
5. Delhi - Moradabad - Lucknow - Gorakhpur - Muzaffarpur - Barauni -
Katihar - N. Jalpaiguri - Guwahati
Route 4. would maximally use the electrified high-speed Delhi-Howrah
corridor, but miss Patna. Routes 1 and 3 seem most probable as they
cover important cities while using the high-speed electrified
Delhi - Mughal Sarai section.
I am hoping against hope that atleast one of the above Rajdhanis
would touch Varanasi, but this seems highly unlikely :-(
> Howrah - Jaipur Express
So, one of my fantasy trains "Rajasthan Exp." has come true. The
route via Dhanbad - Gaya- Mughal Sarai - Allahabad - Kanpur - Tundla
- Bayana - Sawai Madhopur would ensure uninterrupted electric traction
for a substantial porton of the journey.
> BTW they have finally put the Howrah AC Express out of its misery by
> withdrawing all AC service except 2 AC 2-Tier Sleepers from it and
> renaming it Poorva Express. Its (intended) color scheme appears to be
> standard maroon with green stripe above and below the window. This
> appears to be the (inteded) color scheme of Paschim Express too. I say
The last time I spotted the AC (now Poorva) Exp. near Mughal Sarai,
it had a Rajdhani-type color scheme, namely, cream-and-red. But
this was way back in Jan. 1990. CLW has stopped manufacturing
WAM4s, which implies that the current stock of WAM4s would
slowly be replaced by WAP1s, at least, for hauling express
trains.
Vijay
From: T.H.Sanyal. <THS1@PSUVM.EMAIL
Subject: Re: AC 3-Tier Sleeper, Rajdhani Express trip etc.
Date: 01 Apr 1994 13:29:00 -0500
Jishnu writes:
>into New Delhi. Shivaji Bridge seems to continue to be the bane of all
>trains arriving into New Delhi. They always seem to get stuck at Shivaji
>Bridge for a while for no apparent reason.
Doesn't similar problems exist at other terminal stations?
Usually trains approaching Howrah or Sealdah wait at some
specific points (but probably not for 20 minutes). In fact
I was quite surprised in my first (and only) trip to Madras
when the Howrah Madras Mail pulled into Madras Central
without stopping at the approach, as my previous experience
with Calcutta terminals had suggested it would.
>BTW they have finally put the Howrah AC Express out of its misery by
>withdrawing all AC service except 2 AC 2-Tier Sleepers from it and
>renaming it Poorva Express. Its (intended) color scheme appears to be
Could you elaborate a little about what you mean by 'misery'
in the above? Were the AC coaches not getting enough customers?
If that is so, then it is perhaps good news for Calcutta-Delhi
passengers who can only afford to travel second class. For
these passengers the only reasonable train available was the
Kalka Mail for which getting a reservation within a short
time was impossible.
T.H.Sanyal.
From: S Pai <Pai>>
Subject: Stops before terminals
Date: 01 Apr 1994 12:42:00 -0500
>>> "T.H.Sanyal." <THS1@PSUVM.email writes:
Doesn't similar problems exist at other terminal stations?
Usually trains approaching Howrah or Sealdah wait at some
specific points (but probably not for 20 minutes). In fact
I was quite surprised in my first (and only) trip to Madras
when the Howrah Madras Mail pulled into Madras Central
without stopping at the approach, as my previous experience
with Calcutta terminals had suggested it would.
Yes, in my experience trains going to Madras Central don't generally
make long unscheduled stops before they arrive. Sometimes there is a
small delay at Perambur or Basin Bridge Jn. but that doesn't seem to
be the usual case.
Approaching Bangalore City, many trains (such as the ones from Madras)
seem to wait for long periods at some station like Bangalore East or
Krishnarajapuram or Whitefield. I never figured out why this happens.
Sometimes the wait is not even at one of these stations, but just at
some random point perhaps 5-10 km from the city suburbs. "Didn't get
the signal" is the popular "explanation" for the phenomenon, but there
must be some reason for its happening systematically.
At least in the case of Bangalore Mail from Madras it is actually
quite useful in the sense that without the delay the train would have
arrived at Bangalore City at the unearthly time of 4:30am... :-)
-Satish
From: Rangachari <anand@watson.email
Subject: Re: AC 3-Tier Sleeper, Rajdhani Express trip etc.
Date: 01 Apr 1994 13:03:00 -0500
> Doesn't similar problems exist at other terminal stations?
> Usually trains approaching Howrah or Sealdah wait at some
> specific points (but probably not for 20 minutes). In fact
> I was quite surprised in my first (and only) trip to Madras
> when the Howrah Madras Mail pulled into Madras Central
> without stopping at the approach, as my previous experience
> with Calcutta terminals had suggested it would.
You were lucky at Madras. The ritual stop at Basin Bridge Jn is a well
known joke among travellers to Madras. In the seventies and eights when
I travelled frequently to Madras, I never remember stopping for less
than 5 min at Basin Bridge. It used to be a fascinating place to stop
anyway. The Steam loco shed was right next to the 4 track main. In
addition, you could see the Ennore thermal station too (now demolished).
Anand
anand@watson.email
From: S Pai <Pai>>
Subject: Forwarded article: Bangalore-Mysore train ride - nostalgia
Date: 04 Apr 1994 13:21:00 -0500
This is an article I found in alt.culture.karnataka which I am reposting
here with permission of the author.
-Satish
PS: Does anyone know what the steam locos at Mysore that the author
mentions are there for? How many are there?
------------------------------------------------------------
From: R.N.Halthore <halthore@ltpsun.email
Newsgroups: alt.culture.karnataka
Date: 29 Mar 1994 23:05:29 GMT
This was a trip I took in Nov of 1991 just after Deepavali from
Bangalore to Mysore. This was during the conversion of metre gauge
to broad gauge with the result that the train was scheduled to take
about 4.5 hours for the trip! (which it did). We were about 6 of us
and I foolishly went to the railway station to book seats for the
following day trip. Foolishly, because I stood in line for 2 hours
and the line did not move one bit and because, I could have gotten
the tickets in minutes with any travel agent. Anyway after coming
home without tickets, I simply called my high school buddy on the
phone who owns a travel agency on JC road and sure enough I got the
tickets! (He delivered it to my home).
It was a beautiful day as usual (Nov in Bangalore!) and the
platform for Mysore (no. 3 I think) in the Bangalore City railway
station was clean. There were many people but nobody was talking
loudly or spitting. The train was clean and our seats were not
occupied by others. It didn't matter anyway since the train was half
empty. The train slowly pulled away (diesel engine) and pretty soon
we were going through the western slums of Bangalore. Soon there
after, we reached Kengeri and frankly I could not see where
Bangalore ended! It was one continous city with houses (there may
have been small gaps) all through.
The beautiful country side with small farms and coconut trees
(green everywhere) gave way to sugar cane fields near Mandya. Here
and there one would see a farmer walking by dwarfed by the sugar
canes. The fertile valley of Cauvery near Srirangapatna was
beautiful as usual and there were farms, farms and farms as far as
the eye could see. Almost every station the train stopped, we had
vendors selling coffee, tea, peanuts, bananas etc. And in almost
every station, we had the companionship of - you guessed it -
monkeys! My 5 year old son was thrilled to the core throwing peanuts
to the monkeys (a little bit of littering perhaps, excusable under
the circumstances). In Srirangapatna, the temple and mosque spires
were clearly visible from the train and I got down to use the
restroom facilities. Mistake! Just as soon as I got into the
building, the train started pulling away and I had to hurry back to
a different compartment. I could not use the restroom until I
reached Mysore.
When we reached Mysore, the yard was full of steam locomotives
perhaps used for the Nanjangud and Hassan trips. The station was
even more quieter and cleaner than the Bangalore city station. Taxis
and autos were available and to my utter dismay, I could not find
even one Tonga! We were glad to see the journey end after 4 and a
half hours for the 90 mile trip but it was worth it. It is all on my
video tape now (I managed to tape with a 8 mm camcorder some salient
points of the trip).
From: Akhtar Jameel <jameel@cs.email
Subject: More on the Rajdhani Exps.
Date: 05 Apr 1994 13:15:00 -0500
Hi Folks,
A second glance at the article (about the inaugural run of the
Bangalore Rajdhani) revealed that IR has plans to introduce a Delhi
- Trivandrum Rajdhani, as well. I won't be surprised if one of the remaining
9 new trains to be introduced in July is, indeed, a weekly N.Delhi/Nizamuddin
- Trivandrum Central Rajdhani Exp. Looks like the recent spate of
Rajdhani Exps. from our capital is part of IR's systematic, politically
"instigated" plan to connect Delhi with all state capitals (if possible)
by a Rajdhani/Shatabdi-type service. So far we have:
Delhi to Kalka/Chandigarh by daily Shatabdi Exp.
Lucknow by 5-days-a-week Shatabdi Exp.
Bhopal by daily Shatabdi Exp.
by biweekly Rajdhani Exp. (terminating at
Madras/Bangalore)
Patna by biweekly Rajdhani Exp. (terminating at
Howrah)
Howrah by daily Rajdhani Exp.
Guwahati by weekly Rajdhani Exp.
Bhubaneswar by weekly Rajdhani Exp. (terminating at Puri)
Bombay Central by six-days-a-week Rajdhani Exp.
& six-days-a-week Aug. Kranti Rajdhani Exp.
Bangalore City by weekly Rajdhani Exp.
Secunderabad by weekly Rajdhani Exp. (terminating at
Bangalore)
Madras Central by weekly Rajdhani Exp.
Are J&K, Rajasthan, Kerala, and Goa in the queue? If so, we can expect
a Delhi-Jammu Tawi Shatabdi (maybe the distance is more suited to a
Rajdhani-type service), a Delhi - Trivandrum Central Rajdhani, a Delhi -
Jaipur Shatabdi (probably after the conversion of Rewari - Jaipur to
BG), and a Delhi - Panaji/Vasco-da-gama/Madgaon Rajdhani (after the
Konkan rly. project gets completed)
And now, some speculation on the Puri/Guwahati Rajdhanis:
They probably leave N.Delhi around 6.30 am and arrive around 9.30 pm so
as to trail the Lucknow Shatadbi on its outbound journey and stay just
before it on the inbound route. This would also enable Allahabad,
Mughal Sarai, etc. to have a daytime Rajdhani service.
The Puri Rajdhani probably has the following passanger halts:
Kanpur Central, Allahabad, Mughal Sarai, Gaya, Bokaro Steel City,
Tatanagar, Bhubaneswar. Plus a technical halt at Gomoh. It could take
the Kharagpur bypass (at Hijli) to join the line going towards
B'neswar/Puri.
The Guwahati Rajdhani halt's - Kanpur Central, Allahabad, Mughal Sarai,
Patna, Barauni, New Jalpaiguri. Maybe, a technical halt at Katihar.
Roof Mounted AC Units
---------------------
On a final note, the Nov. issue of IR mentioned about the
introduction of AC coaches with roof mounted AC units. These
would be much lighter than the conventional self-generating
AC coaches and would other advantages such as little
maintenance, fresh air from the roof (alleviating the problem that
Pushkar mentioned earlier), no water drop on passangers, etc.
Such coaches would enable the running of 22 coach Rajdhani
trains.
Regards,
Vijay
From: Akhtar Jameel <jameel@cs.email
Subject:
Date: 06 Apr 1994 16:17:00 -0500
Welcome to the club, Rangasayi. I sure would like to watch your video on
the Bangalore - Mysore journey.
Welcome back, Dheeraj. In order to get the IR magazines, you need to
send a cheque for Rs. 40 to
Mr. S. C. Sharma,
The Business Manager,
Indian Railways,
Room No. 311, Rail Bhavan,
New Delhi - 110001
Could you enlighten us about the current railway budget? I am
especially interested in the new trains, and new electrification &
gauge conversion projects.
Jishnu, do you know the rake arrangement of the Howrah Rajdhani via
Main line? How many coaches does it have? Incidently, the Bangalore
Rajdhani and the Madras Rajdhani do NOT share rakes despite being weekly
trains. Both of them get only an overnight's rest at the Nizamuddin
yard, but laze around for more than three days at the other end. IR
could have easily saved a rake by decreasing the rest times at
Madras/Bangalore. Maybe, these will be shared with the new Rajdhanis to
Puri/Guwahati.
> Doesn't similar problems exist at other terminal stations?
> Usually trains approaching Howrah or Sealdah wait at some
> specific points (but probably not for 20 minutes). In fact
Bombay (VT) bound trains arriving from the north routinely stop at
the outskirts of Kalyan. The final hop to Bombay V.T. usually
consumes 10-15 mts. more than the alloted run-time of 50-60 mts.,
especially if they happen to be in the peak traffic blocks (7.30
am - 10.30 am, and 4.30 pm - 7.30 pm). And the journey assumes
nightmarish proportions during the monsoon season for obvious
reasons. In fact, the tracks literally disappear at low-lying
stretches, e.g., near the Kurla goods yard and at Sion.
Nowhere does rush hour traffic pose as severe a problem as in
Bombay, since a major portion of the suburban traffic runs on the
trunk routes that also carry main-line trains towards Delhi, Howrah,
Madras, etc. IMHO, there is an IMMEDIATE need for a sixth
corridor for exclusively handling suburban traffic and having
independant terminal facilities.
Regards,
Vijay